Do you think it is ethical to extract eggs or semen after death? Why or why not. Defend your response with appropriate support/research of what you have learnt so far about ethical theories
Questions/Dilemmas
Dilemma #1 – Technology and You (use in-text citations and references)
Have a read through the following article that discusses the ethical issues surrounding harvesting and using sperm or eggs from a deceased person. Examples from around the globe are explored. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-life-after-death-the-ethics-of-planned-orphanhood/
A) Do you think it is ethical to extract eggs or semen after death? Why or why not. Defend your response with appropriate support/research of what you have learnt so far about ethical theories (virtue, utilitarian, universal).
B) Review the various cases in the article. Do you think there are some scenarios where this decision should be allowed to be made by someone else and if so, who and in what circumstances? (cite and reference any examples from the article)
Dilemma #2 – Privacy Online
Read through the following article, then answer the questions below: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531330-900-the-ethics-issue-should-we-abandon-privacy-online/.
For more information on the topic of online privacy, you can skim through the following material: https://privacyrights.org/consumer-guides/online-privacy-using-internet-safely
On what do you place more value: a) personal privacy or b) national safety? Explain your answer from an ethical perspective (again, research and support required).
Case #1
Read the case titled “The Insider” on pages 136-137. Watch this short video about this story and the personal cost of being a whistleblower.
Answer this question:
In the case of Dr. Jeffrey Wigand and the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company, the CBS Broadcasting company chose not to air the “60 Minutes” TV interview with Dr. Wigand, under threat of legal action for “tortious interference” between Brown and Williamson and Dr. Wigand. There were suspicions that CBS was more concerned with the negative impacts of a potential legal battle on the sale of their company to Westinghouse Corporation. Was CBS behaving ethically by putting the interestes of its stakeholders in the Westinghouse deal before its duty to Dr. Wigand?
(use what you have learned so far – you may want to think about CSR, 3BL, ethical theories, instrumental vs social contract….etc.)